Introducing InTex; Texas By The Numbers

The index highlights a unique variety of statistics, facts and recent activities throughout the state, all of them adding up to a fascinating picture of an ever-evolving Texas…

Last month, the Texas Comptroller released the InTex Index, a new feature that will offer a periodic snapshot of our diverse Texas economy.

The index highlights a unique variety of statistics, facts and recent activities throughout the state, all of them adding up to a fascinating picture of an ever-evolving Texas and a better place for all of us to live, work and realize our dreams.

The InTex Index is a measure of all the things that make Texas great! This debut edition of the InTex Index highlights the cities of Waco and Lubbock.

• 16 – number of Waco homes HGTV Fixer Upper’s Chip and Joanna Gaines renovated in 2017

• 30,000 — number of tourists who visit Chip and Joanna’s Magnolia Market at the Silos in Waco every week

• $15,915 — the amount the average home price in Waco increased in 2017 (from $180,921 in 2016 to $196,836 in 2017, according to the Texas A&M Real Estate Center).

• Every single one — the number of homes renovated on HGTV’s Fixer Upper that receive a free magnolia tree

• 248 — number of single-family homes sold in Waco in December 2017, an all-time high, according to the Waco Economic Index. In 2017, 2,778 Waco homes changed hands.

• 59,100 — Estimated additional residents in Waco by 2040, according to The Perryman Group (PDF)

• $63.7 million — Economic impact of Waco’s nonprofit arts and culture sector, which also generates $7.4 million in state and local taxes

• 9 — rank of the Baylor Hankamer School of Business’ in the Princeton Review’s 2018 list of Top U.S. Entrepreneurship Programs

• 5,000 — number of square feet in Hustle, StartUp Waco’s new shared office space

• 1885 — the year in which Waco pharmacist and budding carbonated drink entrepreneur Charles Alderton served up his bubbly recipe to his first customers at Waco’s Morrison’s Old Drugstore. He’d eventually gave the formula to Morrison, who renamed the popular drink Dr Pepper.

• 2 — Waco’s spot on TripAdvisor’s recent list of “top US destinations of the rise”

• 6 — Lubbock’s place on Move.org’s list of best U.S. cities for 20-somethings

• 20 — number of stories in Lubbock’s tallest building, the Metro Tower, built in 1955, the same year Buddy Holly opened for Elvis Presley at Lubbock’s Park Coliseum

• 13 feet — width of the giant pair of black horn-rimmed glasses outside the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock

• $8.6 billion — estimated economic activity generated by Texas’ music industry in 2017 (PDF)

• 41 — Lubbock’s rank out of 308 urban areas nationwide for lowest cost of living, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research

• 12 — number of acres the corn maze occupies at Lubbock’s At’L Do Farm

• 152.4 — Lubbock National Bank’s Lubbock Economic Index (PDF) for November 2017, a record high

• $831 million — total motor vehicle sales in Lubbock (PDF) in 2017, the second-highest total ever

• 1,352 — number of new single-family home permits (PDF) issued in 2017 in Lubbock, a 14 percent increase over 2016 and a new all-time high

• $189,446 — average sales price of a Lubbock home (PDF) in 2017

• 130,000 — number of jobs the agricultural sector adds to the High Plains economy, according to the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce

• $13.4 billion — Lubbock’s gross economic product, according to the recent State of the City address

• $140 million — Monsanto’s recent investment in its Lubbock-based primary cotton seed processing hub, further solidifying West Texas as the epicenter of the cotton industry

• 70,000 — square feet comprising South Plains College’s new educational facility, which furthers Lubbock’s workforce development efforts

• 66 — new jobs being created in Lubbock by XFab Texas, Inc (PDF), as a result of a $66 million expansion that gives Lubbock the world’s first six-inch silicon carbide foundry

• $60,000 — average annual salary of 50 new downtown Lubbock jobs created as a result of Hoverstate’s recent decision to locate its healthcare industry computer software development efforts in Texas. Hoverstate is a Los Angeles-based digital design, development and marketing agency.